Titanium dioxide is becoming more and more abundant in the industrial chain of national strategic resource reserve.

In response to the CPPCC proposal, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the relevant departments are working out the National Reserve Development Plan of the 14th five-year Plan, including titanium dioxide into the national strategic resource reserve, and plan to build a titanium dioxide industry standard system.

Also boosted by the news, the A-share market was moved by the wind. By the close of trading on August 27th, the WIND titanium dioxide index had reached a new high, up 1.96 per cent throughout the day. According to a person from a listed titanium dioxide company in Shandong, "the valuation structure of titanium dioxide enterprises has changed. Under the low-cost advantage of large chemical industry, the comprehensive utilization of the whole extraction chain will further tap the enterprise value."

Valuation structure changes

There is a wide range of judgments on the titanium dioxide industry in the market, which undoubtedly proves that the whole industry is in a business cycle. Judging from the price trend alone, even if it is in the off-season of the industry, the price increase letter is coming like snowflakes all over the sky.

When a reporter from the Financial Associated Press interviewed the relevant listed companies, there was a common view that it would continue to grow steadily in the future. From the perspective of industrial analysis, there is a clich é about the reform of the supply side, the view that the strong are always strong, and the voice of the recent comprehensive utilization of the industrial chain.

"the core of the change in the valuation system lies in the direction of the future development of the enterprise. Through comprehensive utilization, 002145.SZ in the leading enterprises has entered the new energy iron phosphate industry, bringing new enlightenment to the industry, and the logic of price increase has become a thing of the past." Some private equity people analyze it in this way.

The idea of chemical switching to new energy and the seamless conversion of the track to raise the valuation has also been recognized in industrial capital, and medium-core titanium dioxide can be seen in the fixed increase plan in May this year.

In the company's fixed increase plan, in addition to replenishing the flow, there are three projects, one is the titanium dioxide deep processing project, and the other two are the most interesting points in the plan, one is the annual production of 500000 tons of ferric phosphate; the other is the water-soluble monoammonium phosphate (water-soluble fertilizer) resource recycling project.

From the point of view of chemical conversion, the two projects complement each other with titanium dioxide waste acid and waste water to form a corner potential. One of the products is water-soluble monoammonium phosphate to produce raw materials for power battery cathode materials, fire extinguishing agents, flame retardants and so on. Another product, iron phosphate, is the precursor of lithium iron phosphate battery cathode materials.

However, it is worth mentioning that the iron phosphate of medium-nuclear titanium dioxide has not been mass-produced at this stage, and even if it is married with the Ningde era, its products are still in the stage of comprehensive verification, and the uncertainty and time of mass production are unknown.

600727.SH, another company in the industry, has more resources and advantages to enter the new energy industry than new players such as China Nuclear Titanium dioxide.

It is understood that Jinhai titanium industry, a subsidiary of the company, now has a production capacity of more than 100000 tons of titanium dioxide by sulfuric acid process, 100000 tons under construction, and 60, 000 tons of titanium dioxide by chlorination process under construction in Xianghai titanium industry, all of which are expected to be put into production by the end of the year. By 2022, the company will have an annual production capacity of 260000 tons of titanium dioxide.

Although Lubei Chemical has not yet been involved in lithium iron phosphate and related industries. However, Lubei Group, the company's controlling shareholder, is currently cooperating with domestic leading lithium iron phosphate production enterprises to set up a joint venture company and is applying for the 660000 tons of lithium iron phosphate project.

In terms of raw materials, ferrous iron phosphate, a by-product of the titanium dioxide plant of a listed company, can be produced directly from the ferrous phosphate produced by the company; there are 10000 tons of lithium carbonate production plants in the park, and iron phosphate and lithium phosphate can be directly used for the production of lithium iron phosphate. The park where the company is located has the raw materials for the production of lithium iron phosphate.

"Lithium iron phosphate project is a heavy asset investment, every 10, 000 tons of production capacity, capital investment is about 150 million, heavy capital investment is the threshold for the intervention of new industrial capital, in addition, reasonable matching of resources is also a barrier to the industry. Titanium dioxide industry is involved in the new energy, once the product verification is realized, it will break through the original barriers of the industry. " This is how the aforementioned business people analyze.

New process opportunities emerge

The voice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has undoubtedly brought a new shot of stimulants to the industry. The business personage was also very excited when he heard the news. "the reply to this proposal is full of information, first of all, affirming the strategic position of titanium dioxide, and second, emphasizing the support of the new production process," he said. "

The traditional production processes of titanium dioxide are sulfuric acid method and chlorination method, in which sulfuric acid method has been listed in the "guidance catalogue of industrial structure adjustment"; chlorination method requires high quality of raw materials and needs to be imported in large quantities from abroad.

In its reply, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also emphatically affirmed the hydrochloric acid extraction method, as a new technology, this process has low requirements for raw material quality, short process, low cost and good development prospects, but the process is in the early stage of industrialization. it still needs to be improved in the aspects of environmental protection, product quality, plant operation stability and so on.

There are two ways to upgrade the industry, one is the iterative upgrading of new and old processes, and the other is the comprehensive utilization of traditional processes. The comprehensive utilization of acid waste by traditional enterprises coincides with the production process of ferric phosphate, which is a distressing by-product and forms the advantage of closed-loop economy.

In the view of Shen Meng, an analyst at Southwest Securities, the chlorination process will gradually replace the sulfuric acid method and become the domestic mainstream titanium dioxide production process. In this field, the technical source of chlorination titanium dioxide in Lubei Chemical Industry is independent research and development, and the technology of the core chlorination section has been mastered, and the problem of oxidation furnace scarring has been basically solved to achieve stable operation.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also incorporated titanium dioxide into the national strategic resource reserve. China's ilmenite reserves rank first in the world, and it is also the largest producer and consumer of titanium dioxide in the world. At present, the Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Grain and material Reserve Bureau, together with relevant departments, are working out the national reserve development plan of the 14th five-year Plan, and will fully consider the suggestions put forward when determining the variety catalogue of national reserves during the 14th five-year Plan period. Carry out in-depth research and demonstration.

In the future development direction of the titanium dioxide industry, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also expressed the importance of comprehensive utilization. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that the relevant state departments are actively promoting the comprehensive utilization of titanium ore resources.

In the next step, the Ministry of Science and Technology will set up a key special project on "Development and Utilization of Strategic Mineral Resources" to solve the problems of unbalanced and insufficient utilization of valuable metals in associated strategic resources. New technologies and key equipment such as balanced utilization of valuable elements and efficient separation of vanadium and ferrovanadium in vanadium-titanium magnetite are studied to promote the development and application of high-value utilization technology of titanium resources. Our Ministry, together with relevant departments, will continue to promote the construction of the comprehensive utilization base of industrial resources in Panzhihua City, so as to effectively improve the efficiency of resource utilization.